Windows tells me: She's gonna blow captain!

[ponyxslayer]

My HDD has warned me about SMART being bad. I have gathered that my HDD is toast. Is there anything I can do to save it, if not what can I do to save my OS so I can reinstall it on my new HDD. Windows 7 did not come with a serial key because on this pc it was already installed when I bought it from the shop.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

My HDD has warned me about SMART being bad. I have gathered that my HDD is toast. Is there anything I can do to save it, if not what can I do to save my OS so I can reinstall it on my new HDD. Windows 7 did not come with a serial key because on this pc it was already installed when I bought it from the shop.

I've heard of not getting OS media before but, I've NEVER heard of not getting a license key. You've been hosed my friend.

 

[Smoblikat]

I've heard of not getting OS media before but, I've NEVER heard of not getting a license key. You've been hosed my friend.

Or didnt get W7 from a shop..............

 

[Bubbaleone]

Clone it to the new drive before it becomes unreadable.


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[ponyxslayer]

What is the best thing to use for copying it? USB or CD? What files exactly am I copying?

 

[corkyg]

Clone the drive directly to a new drive. Clonezilla, Macrium Reflect, Acronis, etc. provide the tools. The best thing is to use bootable media provided by the cloneware and go drive to drive. When you bought your PC, did you not get any docuemtation at all? The Win 7 key ID should be listed unless you were dealing with a fly-by-night outfit. If local, get it from them. If the cloning fails, you may need it.

S.M.A.R.T. provides a warning. It also provides false alarms. But, better safe than sorry. Take action.

 

[ponyxslayer]

There is a Windows sticker on the side, it has numbers on it. I think the serial number is there. If it is I will transfer over to a new HDD. Any way to tell if it is a false alarm?

 

[corkyg]

You can always run a diagnostic program. These are all free and good. As you can see, they are usually provided by the HDD maker.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/tophddiag.htm

Microsoft keys are always 5 groups of 5 letters and numbers. The letters are usually caps. If that is on the sticker, that is your OS key.

 

[pete1229]

Here's a great article on how you can recover your product key from a bad HDD

http://www.howtogeek.com/?post_type=post&p=64600

 

[ponyxslayer]

These are from my BIOS. http://imgur.com/cleKM,49ynJ The first picture is the error I get on bootup, the second is in the BIOS under CMOS util setup. I have gotten the keys and now am going to work on getting a new HDD should I create a windows 7 boot disc for when I get a new HDD?


This http://imgur.com/h9Rd2

 

[ponyxslayer]

On phone don't know if any of this info matters. 681 large file records processed, 0 bad file records, 0 EA records, 150 reparse records. Everything else went fine at 4 of 5 waiting on CHKDSK to verify file data.